As almost all parents-of-preschoolers do, we usually have about 600 pieces of kid art laying around the house. It just so happens that this weekend we went through and culled that down to about 100 pieces, which we put in a desk organizer on a bookshelf with the intent to work through it monthly and keep, scan, purge, or mail to grandparents. So naturally, this morning after a marathon game of Chutes and Ladders (did you KNOW how long that game can go on???) I grabbed the art organizer, called over my artist and assistant curator, and we got to work.

First we picked out about 20 things my son wanted to see up on the wall. We also found and printed some photographs. I let him choose about six rolls of washi tape for the “frames” (I love this Etsy shop for fantastic, fairly inexpensive tape). We also used a few existing frames and mats; by the way, I love these 2-pack NYTTJA frames from IKEA for kids’ rooms.

After about half an hour of “curating” we started the assembly. I’d love to say this was carefully thought out (as a client’s wall would be) but we just started tacking things up and filling in the holes. I was careful to hang the actual frames a little higher than I thought he’d reach or hit while playing.

This is what we got:

A few of the highlights are the origami dinosaur and crane, which are essentially “seat-belted” the the wall…

Some of his early writings…

And this ice cream cutout, which is paired with a “menu” he recently gave me as breakfast suggestions (nice try).

If the tape doesn’t stick very well or comes unglued, you can hit it with a hot hairdryer to gum it onto the wall a little bit more. But don’t worry, it won’t damage your wall (that’s the beauty of washi-tape). It will also keep your paper free of rips if you remove it (just pull slowly and carefully).

Now if tomorrow’s another snow day, I have NO IDEA what we’re going to do!

I work with a lot of new homeowners who hire me to select paint colors and wall treatments. Usually, we are just switching up colors to suit the new owners’ tastes. Sometimes we’re trying to get rid of dated wallpaper, faux finishes, or wood paneling. And sometimes, if we are lucky, we uncover awesome surprises in the form of murals. One of those times was this morning at an early color consultation meeting.

Here are two murals that I can’t resist sharing. I’ll withhold telling you whether or not we covered them up…to each her own.

The first comes from a bedroom in a house that is, inexplicably, not near the White Flint metro station. If the scale is not clear, let me clarify: it was pretty large.10 points for a realistic ceiling depiction.

The second is a stunningly accurate depiction of the Beatles in their Yellow Submarine period. It is AMAZING.

The details!

I have to say that the people who commissioned these must have been fun loving and artistic people. They certainly make my job more interesting.

I think I’ve mentioned Tabarka Studio and their gorgeous, geometric, contemporary, terracotta tiles on the blog before, but I feel compelled to mention them again since I’m seeing so many of their tiles on Pinterest. …and rightfully so – they’re spectacular!

Tabarka tiles are handcrafted in Arizona from terracotta, come in a ton of geometric, ethnically inspired shapes (heavy on the Moroccan influences), and a bevy of colors. I recently used them in a bathroom project and the results were breathtaking; so breathtaking in fact, that we installed a pocket door so we’d never have to obscure the view for the client!

I’ve had a lot of questions about gallery walls lately: how to start them, what goes in (or is it on?) them, and are there any “rules” when creating them. Well, if you’ve worked with me or been in one of my classes before, you probably know my stance on “rules”: I don’t really do rules. Which isn’t to say everything goes – it doesn’t – but rather, I mean that there are so many conceivable ways to create a lovely gallery wall that I can’t even possible begin to list the process or tell you what elements you absolutely need. I can, however, give you a few suggestions and point out what makes a nice grouping. Below are some examples of great gallery walls, and some notes about how to emulate these looks. Enjoy!

Contrast is Key. I like the punch of a gallery wall that is white on black, or black on white, or white on white with bursts of color within the frames. Here are some examples of gallery walls that emphasize contrast effectively.

Variation AND Repetition Go Hand in Hand. Got an interesting gold frame to incorporate? Great! Include a few additional gold touches. Have a bunch of thin frames in a single color? Great! Add more thin frames in additional colors. Get it?

This one has both varying object sizes AND is small in scope. (via Pinterest, source unknown)

Start With Something Specific or Functional and Let it Grow. I often start gallery walls with a single piece of art or photography or utility that is important to the end-user. You don’t have to complete it in a day or even a week. Just hang that mirror or tv or piece of art (at eye level, preferably, as it’s the most important piece) and let other pieces spawn off of it.

Begin with a mirror and let the other elements fall where they may… (via The Fashion Medley)

…or begin with a television – BRILLIANT! I’ve used this a few times myself. (also via The Fashion Medley)

Oh, you’re wondering about spacing? Well, I do have a simple rule for that. If you use all the same frames, you can space them equally but the look will be less “Anthropologie” and more traditional . If you use different, differently sized frames, space them HOWEVER YOU WANT, whether it’s super organized or more crafty and uneven.

This week I was looking at two previous projects I’ve worked on that feature bold, graphic, red elements at the forefront of the design. In sharing the photographs with some friends and my students I got quite a few “Oooh”s and “Ahhh”s for these two projects, which both showcase the color red but in two dramatically different ways.

The first is a bathroom that was completed back at the end of last year. It features an exquisite Farrow and Ball wallpaper that, when paired with gold finishes and a graphic black and white aesthetic, makes for a super dramatic and moody space. Here are some instagram shots I took when visiting the site yesterday. I love this room. LOVE IT. (You can click to see the image in a larger format).

The other instance of red is in much smaller quantities, and it comes from a dining room. This was a project that I just consulted on and specified furniture for, so the image is a board and not a finished-photo. The client had a great blank slate to work with: an eclectic, colorful space with a fun rustic table, and she wanted ideas for interesting chairs. My idea was to curate a collection of several different chairs in the current palette (aqua/turquoise with a splash of red) to maximize the eclecticism and highlight the fun of the space. I’ve just always liked this board, and wanted to share it:

Important functionality tip: if you ever do this (mismatching chairs) just be sure that the seat height is relatively consistent. I wouldn’t recommend deviating more than an inch from one to the other.

Hope you enjoy these splashy projects! I’m off to stuff plastic easter eggs for a while…

Sometimes I try to be a supermom and selectively arrange my son’s books on a shelf to highlight the season. Just like a librarian. This means I choose a few for display that have themes which reflect the current holiday or time of year. Now, that’s pumpkins and Halloween. But my favorite time to do this is when it gets really cold and I can put The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats on his special shelf. You must know this book, right?

Any parent knows reading to your child can be amazing and calming and often times fun; but with a bad book, it’s torture. This book is one of the ones that is always a joy to read, partially because the story is simple (and short!) and flowing, and also because the illustrations are just gorgeous. I am particularly fond of cut paper, collage-type illustrations in childrens’ books, and this one is no exception.

I love the patchy, boldly colored collages that make snow look anything but ordinary and white.It almost glows. And the composition reminds me very much of the photographs of Matthias Heiderich, whom I wrote about a few years ago; I wonder if he knows the book?

The one page that I always stop and marvel at is at is the one with the little boy sitting on his bed looking out the window. Why? Because I LOVE THE WALLPAPER. And by that I mean so many things beyond superficially liking the wallpaper: I like the way it looks, I like how it reminds me of something my grandparents may have had, and I like the sense of coziness and home and warmth it conveys. I feel like I’ve been in that room (and through reading, I have…many many times). It’s the kind of experience that I love to help create or re-create for my clients; a space that feels like home, that you never want to stop looking at. If I could find a wallpaper like it, I would buy it instantly. But I can’t find it!